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Scream your head off to survive in 'Supermarket Shriek'
Getting through the grocery store with your sanity intact can be tough -- what with the legions of shelf stockers, geriatric Rascal riders and bawling basket babies blocking you at seemingly every aisle. But that's a walk in the park compared to the challenges you'll face in Supermarket Shriek by UK-based studio, BillyGoat Entertainment. The premise of the game is simple. You're a man, stuck in a shopping cart, with a goat. Firmly wedged into the lorry, your only means of mobility is your shrieks of terror propelling you through maze-like markets riddled with boobie traps. With 30 levels available at launch later this summer, that adds up to a lot of hollering. The controls are delightfully straightforward. In single-player mode, you can control the man and the goat independently using the left and right triggers -- having one yell turns you left, having the other yell turns you right, have them scream simultaneously to move forward. There is no reverse. But, like most games, Supermarket Shriek even better with a friend. Plug a microphone into each of your XBox or Playstation controllers and have each person start yelling. The louder you are, the harder you turn and the faster you go. The effect is similar to the classic NES game, Marble Madness, but each person has control of just half the avatar's movement. It's a challenge, and be sure to keep plenty of lozenges on hand. It becomes even more challenging when you begin to encounter the various obstacles littered around each level. From giant guillotine blades to water hazards, flame pits, and springboards, there are more than enough ways for you to fail at every turn. However if you can complete the level quickly enough, you'll earn 3 Stars (like Angry Birds) and unlock the ghost racer of whoever is currently sitting atop to global leaderboards, allowing you to rerace levels against the best screamers on the planet. Supermarket Shriek is slated for release on the Xbox, Playstation and Switch later this summer. It's expected to retail for around $10-15.
PlayStation keeps making money, Sony phones keep losing it
The most interesting part of cracking open a fresh financial report from Sony is seeing whether the momentum behind the PlayStation 4 shows any signs of slowing down. Sony kinda spoilt that for us just after the new year, though, announcing that the PS4 was closing in on the 100 million milestone with 91.6 million consoles sold as of December 31st. The holiday season was appropriately busy for the PlayStation division. From October through December, aka the third quarter of Sony's fiscal year, 8.1 million PS4s found loving homes, compared with 9 million the previous year. Not bad considering the slowdown in sales that's a natural part of a console's lifecycle has been prophesied for some time now.
PS4 sales are closing in on 100 million
During its CES keynote, Sony has announced that it has sold 91.6 million PS4 consoles worldwide overall. The tech giant sold 18 million PS4 units over the past 12 months, with 5.6 million of those sold during the holiday season alone, from November 19th to December 31st. That's despite a prediction by Sony gaming chief John Kodera earlier this year that console sales would begin to slow down, because the PS4 was reaching its saturation point. Those numbers are a bit lower than the 20.2 million units Sony was able to move in 2017, but they're not bad at all for a console that's been around for over five years.
Sony has a PS4 Pro bundle for 'Kingdom Hearts III' fans
If you're a Kingdom Hearts super fan, you know the third installment of the franchise is just around the corner. Don't worry if you're currently without a console to play it on, Sony has you covered. On January 29, the worldwide release date for the upcoming Kingdom Hearts III, Sony is dropping a limited edition PS4 Pro bundle centered around the title. The package is available for $400 in the US or $500 in Canada.
Indie game 'Celeste' is getting a limited physical release
One of the downsides of digital media is never getting the satisfaction of holding your favorite title in hand. That will change for fans of indie platformer Celeste. Limited Run Games is releasing physical copies of the title for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch January 1st.
The best gifts for console gamers
Games are a staple of any holiday season, and what better way to celebrate than by playing some of the biggest titles around? We've picked a string of great games in our holiday gift guide, including Spider-Man, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Forza Horizon 4. Of course, your loved ones will need a console to play said games on if they don't have one already, so you might want to give them an Xbox One X, Nintendo Switch or PS4. We've also picked out some of the best accessories, including controllers, headsets and headphones. If you want to show the kids what gaming was like back in the day, you could give them a PlayStation Classic, which has 20 built-in PS1 games. When the festivities are over and your family members go their separate ways again, they might want to keep playing with others -- giving them Switch Online or Xbox Live Gold subscriptions will let them play their new games online.
With keyboard and mouse support on Xbox, Microsoft closes the gap on PCs
After years of unfulfilled promises and a few weeks of build-up, the Xbox One family finally supports keyboards and mice. Alright, so it's still a feature reserved for members of the beta-esque Xbox Insider Program and few games actually work with the different control scheme, but it's here nevertheless. Keyboards, mice and consoles aren't an abnormal pairing. I remember playing Unreal Tournament on the Dreamcast with keys and clicks, and the PS4 has supported the alternative peripherals for years, even if developers have largely ignored them. It's a slightly bigger deal on Xbox One, though. After all, it technically runs Windows 10, the OS of choice for PC gamers, albeit with the clunky Xbox UI on top. The line between console and computer, then, becomes ever blurrier.
'PUBG' comes to the PlayStation 4 on December 7th
Even after a juicy rumor dropped that Player Unknown's Battlegrounds was coming soon to PlayStation 4, many gamers still had their doubts. You can banish all those negative thoughts now, as Sony and PUBG have announced that the game is indeed coming to the PS4 console and soon, too. It'll arrive on December 7th, easily in time for Christmas, with the popular Erangel, Miramar and Sanhok maps. A much-touted snow-themed map (aka Vikendi) will arrive a bit later in winter of 2018.
PlayStation 4 sales are actually speeding up
Sony's nothing if not consistent. The company's latest financial results released today show everything's as it should be six months after new CEO Kenichiro Yoshida took the helm. Sony recorded nearly $19.6 billion in revenue for the three months ending September 30th, of which almost $2.2 billion was cold, hard profit. Those numbers are slightly better than last year's and last quarter's, meaning Sony's books aren't just stable, they're healthy. Predictably, the PlayStation division was responsible for the most revenue, pulling in more than double any other department barring financial services. Just as unsurprising is that mobile remains the only loss-making part of Sony's business.
'Rocket League' cross-platform profiles delayed until 2019
Rocket League's cross-platform profile system, RocketID, has been pushed back until early next year. Psyonix said that it's working "incredibly hard to ensure that it's as intuitive, stable and polished as possible, before releasing it to the world." When it arrives, RocketID will enable cross-platform parties and friend connections.
‘Spider-Man’ DLC arrives next Tuesday with new suits, more web slinging
People can't stop talking about the PS4 exclusive game Marvel's Spider-Man, and now they'll have even more to chat about. The first chapter of a new DLC called The City that Never Sleeps launches on Tuesday, October 23rd.
Sony says it fixed message bug that crashed PS4s
You might not have to dread receiving a message on your PS4. Sony's Twitter-based PlayStation UK support has told customers that the company has "fixed the issue" that let malicious PSN messages crash consoles. While the team didn't explain what had been done to address the problem (we've asked Sony for more details), there's no firmware update involved. This suggests that any fix would have been on Sony's end, such as blocking messages with the unrecognized characters.
Sony sues California man for selling jailbroken PS4 consoles
There hasn't been much piracy in the PS4's five-year history, but that's been changing ever since users started discovering jailbreaks that would allow running unofficial software -- and Sony is eager to put a swift stop to it. The company has sued California resident Eric Scales for selling jailbroken PS4s on eBay and his own site with piracy in mind. Scales allegedly violated both Sony's copyrights and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by circumventing the console's copy protection and loading systems with bootlegged games like Call of Duty: WWII and God of War.
EA announces ‘FIFA 19’ PS4 esports tournament
If you're a FIFA 19 esports fan, then EA has some good news for you. Today, the company released details about a new competition exclusive to PlayStation 4 owners that begins this Saturday, October 6th. The competition will be a qualifier for a new tournament, the Continental Cup 2018 Presented by PlayStation, that will take place during Paris Games Week from October 26th through the 28th. Players will compete to secure one of 31 spots.
'Red Dead Redemption 2' will be a massive 105GB download
Red Dead Redemption 2 is finally dropping next month, and Sony has revealed some of what's in store with the pre-order launch of its PS4 Pro Bundle. The box refers to a "timed exclusive for 30 days" and mentions online content. We knew PlayStation users were getting some unique content, but this confirms they'll get it ahead of everyone else, too.
PlayStation Now users can download certain PS4 and PS2 games
The biggest hindrance to Sony's PlayStation Now streaming service is lag. Because the game isn't stored locally, whatever device you're playing on has to send your button mashing back to Sony's servers to process the input and then feed it back to your TV screen. That's changing. PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 2 games remastered for PS4 on the service will be downloadable as well as streamable starting today, according to the PlayStation Blog.
'PUBG' could be en route to PlayStation 4 this year
Since 2017, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has been exclusive to PC and Xbox. That could be changing. The battle royale game may appear on PlayStation 4 soon if a Korean ratings board slip-up (spotted by Eurogamer) is to be believed. Each time I've spoken with PUBG Corp over the past year, whoever I've talked to said that a PlayStation 4 version wasn't in the cards because the team wanted to get the Xbox version up to par with the PC first. It looks like that time may have come.
The massive 'Gwent' overhaul comes home October 23rd
Netflix casting its Geralt for the upcoming show based on The Witcher isn't the only reason fans of the fantasy franchise have to be excited. Developer CD Projekt Red has announced a release date for spin-off digital card-game, Gwent: October 23rd on the DRM-free GOG store. Come the end of next month, the game will finally exit beta (after debuting in June 2016) and when it does, it'll arrive with its revamped single-player campaign, "Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales." The developer has said this narrative will have stronger ties to the Witcher universe than the previous single-player mode.
The 'Assassin's Creed: Odyssey' season pass will take you to Atlantis
Of course Assassin's Creed: Odyssey will have a season pass. The first add-on pack will drop sometime in December, according to a post on the UbiBlog, with "two major new story arcs told across multiple episodes." Each episode will land six weeks apart from one another, there will be three episodes per arc according to IGN and the full-on second arc will be released sometime next spring.
'FIFA 19' demo gives you an early taste of The Journey this week
It's that time of year again: FIFA demo season. The demo's 2019 installment for, you guessed it FIFA 19, will be released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One September 13th, around two weeks before the full game. The playable teaser features 10 teams total including UEFA Champions League clubs Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.
